Real-life love

DISTRIBUTION PH/214.560.4203

ADVERTISING PH/214.560.4203 office administrator: Judy Liles

214.560.4203 / jliles@advocatemag.com display sales manager: Brian Beavers

214.560.4201 / bbeavers@advocatemag.com senior advertising consultant: Amy Durant

214.560.4205 / adurant@advocatemag.com senior advertising consultant: Kristy Gaconnier

214.264.5887 / kgaconnier@advocatemag.com

ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS

Sally Ackerman

214.560.4202 / sackerman@advocatemag.com

Nora Jones

214.292.0962 / njones@advocatemag.com

Frank McClendon

The whole point of Valentine’s Day is to honor someone we love, or hope to love, or hope can love us unconditionally.

For the most part, we only need to find one such person to live a happy life, yet we all know how hard that can be.

One of the ways we show someone we care this time of year is treating them to more expensive food and drink than we typically can afford.

Getting all dressed up is another way of saying how much the person sitting across the table, or next to us at the bar, means to us.

Buying a dozen roses, even at triple-the-normal-pricing, is just part of the deal. Boxes of candy, painstakingly home-cooked meals, elaborate videos they’re all ways of showing we care to someone we feel the burning need to impress.

I confess to a certain amount of trepidation every February. I’ve written about this before — my history of over-thinking, over-spending, over-trying and just plain not being very good at proving I can be romantic at least one day each year.

In baseball, they call it squeezing the bat too hard. In television, it’s called jumping the shark. In business, it’s trying to pound a square peg in a round hole.

Some of us just aren’t cut out to be romantics in any sense of the word; it boosts my blood pressure sitting here thinking about it. That doesn’t mean we’re bad at romance or destined never to find someone who will love us; it just means that big, dramatic gestures aren’t something we’re good at.

That’s why a recent email I received from a friend gave me something to think about when it comes to romance and love.

Her parents had been married 68 years, and even though Valentine’s Day was months away, they were getting ready for a big moment together.

Her dad was living at a hospice, a variety of ailments leaving him confused most of the time. Her mom was living in a different hospice, a major heart attack leaving her bedridden and threatening her future.

The daughter sensed time was short, and with the blessing of doctors monitoring each parent, she arranged to bring dad to see mom. And when each learned

214.560.4215 / fmcclendon@advocatemag.com

Greg Kinney

214.292.0485 / gkinney@advocatemag.com

Michele Paulda

214.292.2053 / mpaulda@advocatemag.com classified manager: Prio Berger

214.560.4211 / pberger@advocatemag.com marketing director: Michelle Meals

214.635.2120 / mmeals@advocatemag.com digital + social media director: Emily Williams

469.916.7864 / ewilliams@advocatemag.com

EDITORIAL publisher: Christina Hughes Babb

214.560.4204 / chughes@advocatemag.com managing editor: Emily Charrier

214.560.4200 / echarrier@advocatemag.com editor-at-large: Keri Mitchell

214.292.0487 / kmitchell@advocatemag.com

EDITORS: Rachel Stone

214.292.0490 / rstone@advocatemag.com

Elissa Chudwin about the planned visit, it wasn’t enough just to show up.

Dad insisted on wearing his best shirt and jacket to impress his wife. And mom refused to let her husband into the room until she had finished applying his favorite shade of lipstick.

The email included a photo of two frail people, both knowing their time together was nearing an end, holding hands and sharing the kind of look that no grand gesture of roses or wine can generate.

My friend’s mom died a few days later, her heart failing for good this time, but not before they had those final few moments together.

No expensive food. No pricey wine. No flashy new clothes.

They just said goodbye to each other simply, and they each knew how much the other one meant it.

Rick Wamre is president of Advocate Media. Let him know how we are doing by emailing rwamre@advocatemag.com.

214.560.4210 / echudwin@advocatemag.com senior art director: Jynnette Neal

214.560.4206 / jneal@advocatemag.com art director: Brian Smith

214.292.0493 / bsmith@advocatemag.com designer: Emily Williams

469.916.7864 / ewilliams@advocatemag.com contributing editors: Sally Wamre contributors: Angela Hunt, Lauren Law, George Mason, Kristen Massad, Brent McDougal photo editor: Danny Fulgencio

214.635.2121 / danny@advocatemag.com contributing photographers: Rasy Ran, Kathy Tran reserves the right accept or reject any or advertising

Opinions set forth in the Advocate are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the publisher’s viewpoint. More than 200,000 people read Advocate publications each month. Advertising rates and guidelines are available upon request. Advocate publications are available free of charge throughout our neighborhoods, one copy per reader. Advocate was founded in 1991 by Jeff Siegel, Tom Zielinski and Rick Wamre.

At C. C. Young we are Raising the Bar

NEWS & NOTES CITY

Former journalist-turned-real-estate-blogger

Candy Evans is challenging Lee Kleinman for the District 11 seat on Dallas City Council. The founder of Candys-

Dirt.com told the Dallas Observer that Kleinman is a good neighbor, but the council needs leaders that are fiscally responsible and transparent.

Education

Dustin Marshall hopes to maintain his Dallas ISD District 2 seat in the upcoming election. He cited quality pre-K, expanded school choice and social-emotional health as policies instrumental to students’ success. “Some people might have had some concerns that I might have been more myopic in my focus. I want to be very clear that’s not my approach,” Marshall told the Advocate. “I’m very willing to listen to anyone who wants to give input to me, and that doesn’t necessarily need to be someone who voted for me.”

People

The Cowboys didn’t make it to the Super Bowl, but W.T. White is still proud of graduate Terrance Williams. The wide receiver made a name for himself at Baylor, where he received All-American recognition in 2012. Green Bay Packers running back Ty Montgomery also has roots in our neighborhood. He graduated from St. Mark’s in 2011 and started his college football career at Stanford as a wide receiver and kick returner.